Bagul, Jagtap, Bagwe, Shivarkar among prominent losers in PMC elections
Bagul, Jagtap, Bagwe, Shivarkar among prominent losers in PMC elections
Counting of votes underway at a centre at Katraj Kindhva Road. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre) With many new faces making it to the elected body of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), few bigwigs — including former deputy mayor Ulhas Bagul of Shiv Sena, city NCP chief Subhash Jagtap, Ashok Harnawal, Shankar Kemse and Ashwini Kadam of NCP, Avinash Bagwe of Congress, Abhijeet Shivarkar and Dhanraj Ghogare of BJP — have missed out this time around.
Bagul won the PMC elections six times consecutively in the past and was with Congress before joining the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. He was defeated by BJP candidate Mahesh Wabale. “It is the victory of money power over development work in the Sahakarnagar-Padmavati area,” Bagul said after his defeat.
He said that it was only on the basis of development he had been elected six times in the past but this election development work did not matter much as the rivals manage to woo voters with other promises. “There was wrong use of power by the rivals. They adopted all means to win the election,” said Bagul.
City NCP chief Subhash Jagtap met defeat at the hands of newcomer Veena Ghosh of BJP. Jagtap’s defeat registered a consecutive loss for him in the civic polls.
The loss of firebrand NCP leader Ashwini Kadam was a setback to the party which was confident of her victory owing to her work. Kadam had been with NCP(SP) after the party’s split, but contested as a candidate of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP after the two parties forged a pre-poll alliance for the PMC elections.
Ashok Harnawal had joined the NCP ahead of the PMC polls. He was with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and had been a corporator in the past.
The plan of former Congress corporator Abjijit Shivarkar, son of former Congress minister Balasaheb Shivarkar, to contest as a BJP candidate didn’t work as he lost to Prashant Jagtap of Congress. Jagtap was the city NCP(SP) chief since its formation but quit the party after it joined hands with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP just before the polls.
The biggest hope for the Congress lay in Avinash Bagwe, but he lost with a narrow margin to his nearest rival, Vivek Yadav of BJP.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vasant More and his son Rupesh also lost in the PMC elections while Pratibha Dhangekar — wife of former legislator and Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Dhangekar — and her son Pranavdid not make it to the civic body.
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